Lary Bloom
Writer, Editor, Teacher
The Bloom Blog
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Tuesday, November 01, 2005
The Big Business Of Could
I don't know about you, but I'm tired and wary of could. As in, the avian flu could become a pandemic. As in home heating bills could double. As in America could certainly become the target of a terrorist attack.For news organizations, particularly television, could is a gold mine. It's always accurate, in its own perverse way. It's always frightening. It's always big business. It gets viewers to tune in at 11 to "see if we're going to get hit by that snowstorm that's heading east with a fury. Yes, tune in to see if your life as you know it is over."
The master of could is Wolf Blitzer. I regularly count his coulds in "The Situation Room" on CNN the way I used to count the times my eighth grade history teacher said "at any rate," a habit that left me without any real notes to study with for tests. ("At any rate, Abe Lincoln was a good guy," I might have written.)
There are lots of reasons to mistrust television news, and could is one of them. That's not to say newspapers (where I made my living for so long) are free of scare tactics. There are never headlines that say, "Everything Will Be Fine, So Don't Worry." Many readers argue for more "good news," but that stuff just doesn't sell.
I hesitate to bring all this up. You may never be able to watch Wolf Blitzer or any other news person (for, indeed, the could outbreak is not in any way limited to him), without obsession on the matter. But remember, don't worry so much about could. For in the end, it's the will that will get you.
Posted by:Lary Bloom at 4:04 AM
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